Scoop Utensil for Gathering Beads

ABSTRACT

A scoop utensil defines a scoop trough and a handle attached thereto, characterized in that: the trough has a sidewall and a bottom, the sidewall extending upwardly and outwardly from the bottom and having a front sidewall portion with an upper length, FL, with a gathering edge along its upper length for scooping small objects, a rear sidewall portion opposing the front sidewall portion with a length, RL, at its upper portion which is shorter than FL and a pair of end sidewall portions having upper lengths, EL, shorter than RL, where the front sidewall portion and the end sidewall portions together define a pair of lateral inclined spouts for pouring contents out of the trough to a container. The handle is continuous with the rear sidewall portion of the bead scoop utensil and flaring downwardly from an apex of the rear sidewall.

CLAIM FOR PRIORITY

This application is based on U.S. Provisional Application No.63/239,967, filed Sep. 2, 2021, the priority of which is hereby claimedand the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention generally relates to utensils for gathering beadsor other small objects from a surface and returning them to a storagecontainer.

BACKGROUND

Beads are used for jewelry making and fabric decorating and are usuallysupplied in jars or small vials, depending on size and quantity of thebeads. While larger beads may be poured from a storage container andreturned thereto manually, smaller beads or granular materials aredifficult to pick up from a flat surface and return to the container.This is especially so when the beads or small objects have a size of 1mm or less and, particularly, when 0.5 mm or smaller.

Further, the vials or jars used for bead storage frequently have smallopenings which make returning the beads to the containers challenging.This is so because beads are often supplied in tubular containers ofrelatively small diameter.

Existing scoop utensils usually have a trowel-like construction which issuited to gathering granular or powdered material from a mound, bag orother large container, but are not suited to gathering small objectsfrom a flat surface, particularly when there are a relatively fewobjects on the surface or the objects are widely dispersed.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

A scoop utensil includes a scoop trough and a handle attached thereto,characterized in that: the trough has a sidewall and a bottom, thesidewall extending upwardly and outwardly from the bottom and having afront sidewall portion with a length, FL, with a relatively straightedge along its upper length for scooping beads, a rear sidewall portionopposing the front sidewall portion with a length, RL, at its upperportion which is shorter than FL and a pair of end sidewall portionshaving a length, EL at their upper portions, shorter than RL, where thefront sidewall portion and the end sidewall portions together define apair of lateral inclined spouts for pouring beads out of the trough to acontainer. The handle is contiguous with the rear sidewall portion ofthe scoop utensil and flares downwardly from an apex of the rearsidewall. In preferred embodiments the end sidewall portions are bowedinwardly toward the interior of the trough and the end sidewall portionsdefine acute angles with the relatively straight edge of the frontsidewall portion, such that the lateral inclined spouts have relativelynarrow openings as shown.

Material is gathered from a flat surface simply by grasping the handleof the utensil between the thumb and fingers and using the straight edgeto scrape material from the surface and into the trough. Typically, thethumb would be atop the handle extending parallel to the trough alongits length when grasping the utensil, while 2-3 fingers engage theunderside of the handle. Gathered material is poured from the troughthrough the lateral inclined spouts simply by tilting the utensil whiledirecting a spout at the desired target.

The utensil has a flowing curved unitary design, wherein the bead scooputensil has an S-shaped end profile and the bottom of the trough maysimply be a line where the rear sidewall portion transitions from thefront sidewall portion. Optionally, the trough could define a flatportion or a curved portion between the front and rear portions of thesidewall.

Most preferably, the handle flares downwardly a sufficient distance tosupport the bead scoop utensil in an erect position with respect to aflat surface when placed thereon, with the trough opening directedupwardly so the utensil and any contents of the trough are readilyaccessible to a user.

Further features and advantages will become apparent from the discussionwhich follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The invention is described in detail below with reference to thedrawings wherein like numerals designate similar parts. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an inclined perspective view of a scoop utensil of theinvention on a flat surface in an erect position with an opening of thescoop trough pointing upwardly;

FIG. 2 is a left end view in elevation of the scoop utensil in theinclined, erect position;

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the scoop utensil;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the scoop utensil;

FIG. 5 is a front plan view of the scoop utensil;

FIG. 6 is a back plan view of the scoop utensil;

FIG. 7 is an illustration showing the scoop utensil in use gathering aplurality of beads from a flat surface;

FIG. 8 is a schematic illustration of the profile of a refined scoopedge for gathering beads from a flat surface; and

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the scoop utensil in use pouring aplurality of small beads into a storage vial.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

There is shown in the various drawings a scoop utensil 10 comprising ascoop trough 12 and a handle 14 attached thereto, characterized in that:trough has a sidewall 16 and a bottom 18, the sidewall extendingupwardly and outwardly from the bottom as shown and having a frontsidewall portion 20 with an upper length, FL, having a relativelystraight edge 22 along its length for scooping beads or other smallobjects, a rear sidewall portion 24 opposing the front sidewall portionwith a length, RL, at its upper portion which is shorter than FL and apair of end sidewall portions 26, 28 having upper lengths, EL, shorterthan RL. Front sidewall portion 20 and the end sidewall portions 26, 28together define a pair of lateral inclined spouts 30, 32 for pouringbeads out of trough 12 to a vial 60 (FIG. 9 ). Handle 14 is contiguouswith the rear sidewall portion of the bead scoop utensil and flaresdownwardly from an apex 34 of rear sidewall portion 24. The upperperimeter of sidewall 16 defines an upper opening 19 of the trough.

Among some of the preferred features illustrated are wherein the endsidewall portions are bowed inwardly toward the interior of the troughas shown at 36; wherein end sidewall portions 26, 28 define acuteangles, θ, with edge 22 of the front sidewall portion as shown at 38;and wherein the scoop utensil has an S-shaped end profile as is shown inFIG. 2 .

Still other preferred features include wherein handle 14 flaresdownwardly from apex 34 by a sufficient distance 40 to support the beadscoop utensil in an erect position with the trough opening directedupwardly as indicated by arrow A when placed on a flat surface as shownin FIGS. 1 and 2 .

Typically, handle 14 has an inner length equal to RL, the length of therear sidewall portion and the handle has an outer longitudinal edge oflength, OL, parallel to RL and shorter than RL and handle 14 may havecurved transition portions 42, 44 between its inner and outer lengths.The handle has a thickened border 46 around a periphery thereof in mostcases as well as a plurality of gripping ridges 48. The gripping ridgesmay be on an upper surface 50 of the handle and may extend to apex 34 ofthe rear sidewall portion of the trough. Ridges 48 may also be providedon a lower surface 52 of handle 14. Most preferably, gripping ridges 48extend orthogonally to an outer longitudinal edge 54 of the handle.

Ridges may also be provided on an underside 56 of the trough, the ridgesalso being orthogonal to outer longitudinal edge 54 of the handle.

The scoop utensil of the present invention preferably has a unitarystructure, that is a single piece without separable pieces. Mostpreferably, the structure is formed by injection molding. Thermoplasticmaterials are preferred with polystyrene compositions being mostsuitable.

Referring to FIGS. 7, 8, 9 , there is shown scoop utensil 10 in use. InFIG. 7 , a plurality of small beads (0.5 to 1 mm across) are gatheredfrom a flat surface 64 by a user. Utensil 10 is manipulated so thatbeads 62 are gathered by edge 22 and scooped into through 12, as shown.

Preferably edge 22 is straight or substantially straight; however, somecurvature may exist along its length. The edge which engages surface 64is most preferably tapered or refined from sidewall 20 to a “knife edge”having a thinner profile at its terminus than the profile of sidewallportion 20 distal to the terminus, as shown in FIG. 8 , to facilitatebead gathering. The tip shown in FIG. 8 has a single bevel with respectto the sidewall, but a double bevel or other tapered shapes are suitableas well.

After the beads are gathered from surface 64, a user pours beads 62 intoa container 60 with a small mouth 68, as is shown in FIG. 9 ; that is,the user simply inclines utensil 10 so that beads 62 flow under theinfluence of gravity into lateral inclined spout 32 where the beads areconcentrated. Spout 32 is aligned with the target, in this case, mouth68 of container 60 which receives the beads as shown.

What is claimed is:
 1. A scoop utensil comprising a scoop trough and ahandle attached thereto, characterized in that: the trough has asidewall and a bottom, the sidewall extending upwardly and outwardlyfrom the bottom and having a front sidewall portion with an upperlength, FL, with a gathering edge along its upper length for scoopingsmall objects, a rear sidewall portion opposing the front sidewallportion with a length, RL, at its upper portion which is shorter than FLand a pair of end sidewall portions having upper lengths, EL, shorterthan RL, where the front sidewall portion and the end sidewall portionstogether define a pair of lateral inclined spouts for pouring contentsout of the trough to a container; the handle being continuous with therear sidewall portion of the bead scoop utensil and flaring downwardlyfrom an apex of the rear sidewall.
 2. The bead scoop utensil accordingto claim 1, wherein the end sidewall portions are bowed inwardly towardthe interior of the trough.
 3. The bead scoop utensil according to claim1, wherein the end sidewall portions define acute angles with thestraight upper edge of the front sidewall portion.
 4. The bead scooputensil according to claim 1, wherein the bead scoop utensil has anS-shaped end profile.
 5. The bead scoop utensil according to claim 1,wherein the handle flares downwardly by a sufficient distance to supportthe bead scoop utensil in an erect position on a flat surface with thetrough opening directed upwardly.
 6. The bead scoop utensil according toclaim 1, wherein the handle has an inner length equal to RL, the lengthof the rear sidewall portion and the handle has an outer longitudinaledge of length, OL, parallel to RL and shorter than RL.
 7. The beadscoop utensil according to claim 6, wherein the handle has curvedtransition portions between its inner and outer lengths.
 8. The beadscoop utensil according to claim 1, wherein the handle has a thickenedborder around a periphery thereof.
 9. The bead scoop utensil accordingto claim 1, wherein the handle has a plurality of gripping ridges. 10.The bead scoop utensil according to claim 9, wherein an upper surface ofthe handle has a plurality of gripping ridges.
 11. The bead scooputensil according to claim 10, wherein the plurality of gripping ridgeson the upper surface of the handle extend to the apex of the rearsidewall portion of the trough.
 12. The bead scoop utensil according toclaim 9, wherein a lower surface of the handle has a plurality ofgripping ridges.
 13. The bead scoop utensil according to claim 9,wherein the gripping ridges are orthogonal to the outer longitudinaledge of the handle.
 14. The bead scoop utensil according to claim 1,wherein there are provided a plurality of ridges on an underside of thetrough orthogonal to the outer longitudinal edge of the handle.
 15. Thebead scoop utensil according to claim 1, wherein the bead scoop utensilhas a unitary structure formed by injection molding.
 16. The bead scooputensil; according to claim 15, wherein the bead scoop utensil is madeof a thermoplastic material.
 17. The bead scoop utensil according toclaim 16, wherein the thermoplastic material is polystyrene.
 18. Thebead scoop utensil according to claim 1, wherein the gathering edge ofthe bead scoop utensil has a tapered profile with a thinner profile edgeat its terminus than a profile of the front sidewall portion distal toits terminus.